Cardiac charity gets £10,000 boost

Tolsta Community Development Ltd has donated £10,000 to the Andrew Macleod Memorial Fund in order to enable them to run a two-day cardiac screening event in Stornoway.

The donation will cover the entire cost of the screening sessions, scheduled for September 2020.

Murdo Macleod of AMMF said: "The committee is very grateful to TCDL for its generous donation, enabling us to continue to work with CRY and provide future cardiac testing opportunities within our island communities".

This will be the seventh annual screening event, aimed at identifying cardiac problems in young people. Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) has produced statistics which report that an average of 12 young people die each week in the UK from previously undiagnosed cardiac conditions. Of these, approximately 3 – 4 deaths occur in Scotland.

The Fund was set up in memory of Andrew Macleod, a 21-year-old trainee marine engineer who died suddenly in 2011 whilst on board ship in Hong Kong. He was discovered to have been suffering from a cardiac condition which had produced no symptoms, and of which he was completely unaware.

Despite being subject to regular medical examinations because of his chosen career, Andrew’s condition remained undetected because, like many cardiac complaints, it required targeted diagnostics to identify its presence – something which is not a standard part of routine medical examination.

Murdo Maciver of TCDL said: "Our board felt very strongly about supporting the Fund with this donation. The entire community was touched by Andrew’s story and we are impressed by AMMF’s commitment to the screening programme, which is expensive to run, but incredibly important. It is our privilege to be able to supply funding for another screening event and we hope that as many young people as possible take up the opportunity to be tested."

Further information on the services provided by Cardiac Risk in the Young can be found on their website www.c-r-y-.org.uk